A song blaring on someone’s radio woke me up this morning. It sounded like it was on a loudspeaker just outside the house. I came to complete consciousness when a man’s deep bass voice pounded my ears. May I mention again that I am in a small rural village in the middle of Africa? Oh yeah, and it was 5:59 a.m. I still am not precisely sure why that radio was on so loud, but I did figure out a little bit. The song that culminated the program (thankfully) sounded like gospel music, so I’m guessing it was a religious program. Also, being a rural area, many people don’t have access to media, so I guess people pump up the volume not to be greedy; unfortunately, it had to be so early in the morning apparently. As I walked to the office today, which is about one kilometer from the house, I saw the culprit, though I am still puzzled. An old car had a single large speaker strapped to the roof, and crept past me and into town. Who drives this? Are they paid? Why do they drive this -just for social good, or are they trying to instill beliefs less than subconsciously?
Well the past few mornings I’ve walked to the office with the director (since I am staying at his house), but his daughter told me to go to the office and he would meet me there as he had gone into town this morning. I arrived, and no one was there. Two National Geographics and a student workbook later, I left the office after having sat there for two and a half hours alone. On the walk back a man was came onto the road a bit ahead of me and stared for a moment, which just comes with the territory. Only this time, after a few paces he stop to tie his shoe – oh wait he is only wearing flop flops, so this seems strange. Right as I pass him he stands up and starts walking right with me. I look him in the eyes, give him a small smile, and pick up the pace. He falls behind a little, but being cautious I walk a little quicker to widen the gap, only he does too. I am now walking as fast as I can without seeming too obvious, and I can hear his sandals crunch the gravel under them not that far behind me. I have never seen anyone walk along the road with any sort of speed, so of course my heart starts fluttering. I have taken a number of walks throughout the village, and never once felt even nervous. Fortunately, I can see the edge of the property approaching rapidly, though he is still following close behind. Trying to glance nonchalantly about, I try to monitor how close he is. Though we are not in the city, there are plenty of people sitting outside their houses, so I feel a little bit better at least. Finally I reach the house and swiftly walk up the steps. I feel like I just won a race, and I turn to see where the man is, and he is just ambling down the road still glancing back at me. Anticlimactic, but aren’t I glad! On top of sitting alone all morning, being creeped out on the walk back just kind of iced the cake.
Over the past few days it’s become clear to me that this isn’t the organization for me – I am going to be leaving my post here Friday morning. The directors are both kind people, and I believe they have good hearts, but after spending two hours the first day getting asked about which “big friends” I know back home, it became apparent that they were really hoping to get connections out of an intern, not actual work. They have a good set of programs, but as with many charities, their limiting factor is funds not people. I was supposed to be managing their microfinance program (which they don’t actually run themselves, but rather allow a big bank to come in and loan to their community), and educate women about good hygiene practices and HIV/AIDS (they also don’t do this, but even if they did, none of the women speak much English). I did get to go on house visits yesterday to women they serve who have HIV or AIDS. Unfortunately, they never felt the need to translate everything, and they told me to take pictures for myself at the beginning, and by the end of the day they were telling me how they were going to use the photos I took and will print for them. I would feel a lot more annoyed had the community here not really needed money, but just the same this is definitely not the job I believed I was filling, nor is it something I really think is right. They refuse to cut some spending in order to start their own microfinance program, which actually grows money overtime, and enable themselves to be far less reliant on donors. Good hearts don’t always make the best business decisions is I guess the moral here. They also don’t make the best bosses in my case.
However, all is not lost in the least, in fact, I am very excited about my next chapter in Africa. Since the job was totally not what they said it was going to be, AIESEC is required to help you find other alternatives, and the staff here have been so helpful (shout out to Matthew Mugagga). We found a great program in another town (quite a bit larger than this one), but I ended up choosing something a little different only because it was a very unique opportunity. BeadforLife, an NGO started out of Boulder, CO (I believe - details to follow) works to empower women in Uganda by helping them establish their own business. The women make jewelry and I think beads, which are sold both locally and back in the States. It has become completely sustainable from what I understand, and is an exemplary organization. My mom’s friend works for the BfL back in the Boulder office, and upon hearing that I was headed to Uganda, suggested I get in contact with Lorna who has transplanted from Boulder to Uganda for a few years to work at the Kampala site. Lorna helped answer a million questions that I fired at her in the weeks leading up to my departure. When I told her that I was going to be switching jobs, she suggested I consider working with BfL, and staying with her and her husband. After a lot of thinking, I decided that while the other AIESEC job looked cool, I was really interested in working with this organization that has done so well and become sustainable. Staying in Kampala will also allow me to go visit some other NGOs and spend time basically getting to research good case practices, and different methods of helping communities.
In reflection, I am happy I had this first opportunity, though it hardly fit my expectations. Affording me the chance to live in a rural village, this week at TORUWU has allowed me to see how people live in outside of urban areas and experience up close and personal many of the pros and cons of living out here (beautiful scenery, no real toilet). I also see how critical NGOs can be to communities that are left forgotten by the rest of society, especially the HIV/AIDS women that TORUWU helps support emotionally and through crafts training.
As my mom euphemistically put it, it’s like I’ve been “camping” for the past week. Even the irregular electricity adds to the parity. In all seriousness though, it truly is a blessing to be able to leave these conditions when I choose, unlike many of the children, mothers, and grandfathers who have lived in even worse conditions all their lives. The people here certainly deserve to have clean drinking water, be able to afford medicine, and see their family and friends live to healthy old age. The future is bright for Uganda, but it will take effective solutions to really see the big changes needed.
Until next time,
Megan
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